Subject Eleven - The woman who never was
by FemaleOfTheSpecies
Summary: Rescued from a testing facility, a young woman with no name hopes that S.H.I.E.L.D. has the answers to her questions about her identity. Before those answers can be provided she finds herself on a perilous mission with the Avengers to take down a familiar foe. A foe who claims to hold the answers that she so desperately seeks. Who is Subject Eleven?
1. 1: Interrogation

'As the subject continues to be uncooperative we were hoping you would answer some questions we have about the processes that took place at the Steiner facilities'. The agent, a man in his fifties, was sitting forwards on his chair with his lower arms leaning on the table. His shirt sleeves were rolled up in an attempt to appear approachable and friendly. He observed the man handcuffed to the chair opposite him through squinted eyes, 'will you answer some questions?'

'She has a name, and she's probably uncooperative because you're scaring her'. An attempt at a smile graced the Agents lips 'we don't intend to alarm her' he tried to reassure, but his interviewee wasn't convinced. 'You shot her with a tranquiliser dart without giving her a chance to cooperate and you expect her to just do as you tell her?'

'You feel protective of the subject' the Agent raised his hands slightly in a defensive nature 'I can understand and respect that, but you must understand that S.H.E.I.L.D had to take precautions based on the information we were working with, as far as we were aware she-', 'I'm not answering any of your questions' the man shifted, pulling at the handcuffs as if to test their strength. The Agent smiled grimly, 'then that makes my job very difficult', he paused, 'we have ways of making people cooperate, and we really need you to cooperate.'

As if on cue, the door to the interrogation room opened and a female Agent carrying a briefcase walked in. She placed the case on the table between the two men and the metal clips were released on the front of the case, the lip flipping open to reveal numerous syringes and vials filled with clear liquid, as well as what looked to by a pair of large pliers and clamps. 'Torture won't get you the answers you're looking for' the man scoffed, slumping in his chair with a sneer on his face. The agent picked up one of the syringes as his colleague silently looked on. The agent laughed slightly and paused in the process of syringing the liquid out of one of the vials, 'what makes you so sure of that?' he asked, cocking an eyebrow with apparent humour. The man opposite him smiled and suddenly sat forward in his seat, his chained wrists coming to a rest on the table. 'You know the subject you want to know all about?', the Agent nodded, 'well I could tell you the one thing that I know...'

The agent glanced at his silent colleague before turning back to the man being interrogated, tilting his head forwards to indicate the man should carry on. The chained man sucked a breath in between his teeth, his forehead creasing, 'I don't know much at all, but what I do know is that she can hear every word that we're saying'. The Agent frowned 'some sort of telepathy?' he mused, but the other man shook his head, smiling.

'No'. The reply came from the Agent who had brought the case into the room. The men both looked at the Female Agent, 'I can hear everything you're saying because I'm right here'. The male Agent widened his eyes in shock and reached for his gun just as the woman raised her hand and sent him crashing into the wall. As he collided with the wall he set off the panic alarm strip that ran around the room, but that didn't faze the woman who bent over him and took his gun from its holster. She turned to the man with his hands chained and with a slight nod of her head, the chains fell loose and released him. He stood up and smiled at her as she handed him the gun. 'We have to leave' he explained as he walked towards her and touched the bandage on her neck where she had been hit with a tranquiliser dart.

She flinched away from his touch slightly and turned to look back at the door to the room. 'There are Agents outside and some members of the Avengers' she explained in an almost monotone voice, 'I am holding them away from the door, but that's all that is stopping them'. As she spoke the man stepped between her and the door and eyed it as though he could see through it. He glanced back at the woman and nodded his head 'shall we use the shield trick?' he asked, and she nodded, stepping closer to him. 'There are a couple of jets outside. If we can get that far...', 'you ready?' he asked and the woman nodded, 'of course'. Her voice was monotone, but he knew she was probably just as excited about this has he was. This was real and not one of the practice sessions they'd been forced to go through back at the facility - it was different. She reached towards him and took hold of part of his shirt, inhaled, and then let the door open.

The pair exited the interrogation room and were met by a dozen or so Agents, as well as Captain America and Iron Man. 'Drop the weapon!' a female Agent ordered the man, raising her gun and aiming at his face, but he just continued to steadily aim the gun at each person present one at a time. 'We wish to leave peacefully' his companion explained, but her request was met with a hail of gunfire. They should have been torn to pieces but instead the bullets simply fell to the floor two feet in front of them as they thudded into an unseen wall.

'Hold your fire!' a voice shouted - it was Captain America, he pushed his way in front of the Agents. 'We mean no harm' the girl told him, looking at the bullets intended for her and her male companion pointedly, 'please allow us to leave'. 'Yeah... we can't do that'. It wasn't Captain America that spoke but Iron Man whose suit was missing his helmet, revealing the cocksure face of Tony Stark , 'we have strict orders to keep you here and we intend to keep them'.

The girl glanced at her male companion who was aiming his gun at Tony Starks head, and then looked back at the Avenger with a frown on her face, 'you removed us from our home without our consent, attempted to experiment on me and to torture him...' she cocked her head towards her companion slightly, '...and then try to shoot us both, and you expect us to remain here willingly?'

Tony Stark looked at Captain America and then back at the girl, 'I can understand how bad that looks- he began but was interrupted by his colleague, 'the facility was not a home. We know what they did to you there' Captain America interjected, 'we want to help'. The girl sneered and took a step forwards, the Agents and two Avengers were forced back slightly against their own will as the invisible force that had stopped their bullets softly nudged them. 'I don't need your damned help!'

With that she turned, grabbing the arm of her companion and started running along the corridor in the opposite direction. Bullets flew after them but continued to bounce against the invisible shield. As they turned a corner they could just about hear Captain America ordering the Agents to hold their fire once more, but neither of them turned back to see if anyone was giving chase.

'The shield has gone' the girl grunted as she hurtled through a doorway, grabbing her companions arm to drag him off to the left. 'They're not far behind us' he informed her after stealing a glance back, 'I know' she growled before pulling them to the left again and through an external door. They were on a flight deck, and there were indeed two jets there.

The pair ran towards the aircraft without hesitation, and as they approached the girl threw her hand out and a hatch opened in the nearest aircraft, granting them access. The man jumped aboard and made for the cockpit, letting out a whoop of joy as he heard the engines roar into life. He turned to his companion but was surprised to find that she wasn't on board and was still standing on the flight deck. Behind her Ironman and Captain America had made it through the same door and were running towards the jet. The man made to grab the girl but was surprised to find she was preventing him. 'What are you doing?!' he yelled at her over the noise of the engines as the Jet began to slowly move away from her. She smiled at him before the hatch closed on its own. 'I have to stay' her voice bounced around his head as he frantically fought against the shield, 'find Victor'.

The man stopped struggling at her instruction and watched from the back of the Jet as it cleared the side of the Helipad and began to fly over the ocean far below, leaving the girl alone to whatever fate awaited her at the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D.


	2. 2: Eleven

Tony continued to run alongside Steve as the jet steadily rose and departed company with the helipad, but it soon became apparent that the girl hadn't been left behind by her companion as he initially thought when she turned to face them with a calm look upon her face. Dark tangled hair blew around her face and the loose black medical gown that she wore was rippling from the force of the Jets engines. The two Avengers stopped in front of her. 'We can't let you leave' Steve explained, but the girl simply smiled wryly, squinting slightly against the sunlight behind them, 'you're doing a very good job of stopping me. It is evident that I am going nowhere'. 'Why did you help him escape?' the super soldier asked, the girls eyes left his face for a moment, glancing to her side as the Jet disappeared from sight. She turned back to face the pair, the smile missing from her face as her dark eyes took them both in silently. 'Nobody can use him as leverage now' she pointed out a moment later, 'it's just me'.

Her voice had hardly any emotion to it and she sounded almost robotic in her delivery making Tony shift uncomfortably. He stayed silent as Steve instructed the girl that she would have to accompany them back to the medical bay, 'We only had you locked into the room while you were unconscious. We don't intend to harm you or keep you prisoner' he explained before leading the way back into the facility. The strange girl glanced at Tony questioningly, and he indicated with a sweep of his arm that she should follow Steve and he would follow. She stared at him for a second or two more before doing as he'd indicated. Tony took the chance to properly observe her - she couldn't have been much over Five and a half feet tall, and her arms and legs exposed by the loose fitting medical gown were pale and thin. Her right arm, he noticed, had a mass of scars running from her wrist and up under the short cap sleeve onto her shoulder. The waves of dark hair that reached just below her shoulders clashed with her pale skin - it was almost a sickly pale, as though she hadn't seen sunlight for a very long time.

They soon reached the medical bay and she entered the isolation unit that had been kept clear for her with no arguments. Steve and Tony stood in the doorway, and as she turned to face them Tony found he could no longer hold back the question that had been fighting to get out. 'Why didn't you go?' he asked causing a surprised expression to form on her face. 'I didn't want to go' she explained simply. He must have looked confused because she elaborated on her answer a few seconds later, 'What I mean is that I hope Shield will help me with...' she paused and her brow creased slightly before she continued, 'I don't know how much you know about me...' she paused and Tony shook his head 'not a lot', 'neither do I' she explained, smiling briefly. 'My story is a complicated one and I hope that Shield might be able to help me piece it together'.

There was silence, and Tony exchanged a glance with Steve who looked equally as confused as he felt. 'Well, thank you for cooperating' Steve said before turning to exit the room. Tony turned to follow him before pausing and turning to face the girl once more, he opened his mouth to ask her a question but she cut him off, 'I don't have a name, but they used to call me Subject Eleven' she told him, smiling wryly once more. They stared at one another for a moment before Tony opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off once more 'Your name is Tony. I know. Thank you for not shooting me, Tony.'

'You're... welcome' he replied, suddenly feeling very awkward under her gaze, before following Steve outside and allowing the door to close behind him.

Steve was waiting in the corridor with Bruce who had been working in an adjacent bay on a sample of the girls blood. 'This is all really weird' he told them, running a hand over his face, 'I feel on edge around her, I never feel on edge'. Steve nodded in agreement, 'There's something... _off_ about her. I just can't put my finger on it' he mused. 'Her blood is perfectly normal' Bruce told them, looking past Tony and into the room that the girl was in. Tony followed his gaze and noticed the girl was sitting on the floor to the side of the room and staring at the floor intently, 'did you guys see the scars on her right arm?', Bruce nodded while Steve shook his head, 'they were precise cuts that have been made over and over. Fury didn't tell us everything about this. I don't like it'. 'The director might clue us in during the debrief' Steve pointed out but Tony wasn't buying it, 'how do you know he's going to tell us everything? You know what he's like.' Bruce was nodding in agreement, 'I didn't see as much as you guys did back at that place, but I know a testing facility when I see one, and we were told nothing about a testing facility. There were dozens of cells and yet we only found two people there'.

'Why not insist the girl is in the debrief, then?' Steve suggested as he began to move away down the corridor and towards the command room. 'Now that is a good idea' Tony mused as he followed the man, 'a good idea' he repeated, glancing back along the corridor towards the girls cell before disappearing around a corner.


End file.
